The Lady Unknown

The Lady Unknown

as told by Fou'Ren'Thal of the Wind Tribe

There was once a being. Perhaps there still is. There was once a Lady known only as The Lady.

This story is about her, and about the being.

The being known as The Unknown.

The Lady was from far away, and yet her story has made it this far. Her story begins in the distant past, but still I know it. And you will too, when I am finished.

It matters not where she lived. You will come to understand this.

What matters is how she lived, and how she came to meet and to join the Unknown.

At the time of her life when this story takes place, Lady was both her form and her title. She followed the local customs, and her followers did too, and they helped to enforce the laws which she thought important. She was well respected, and she hard earned the respect through courage and through loyalty, but also through generosity.

One day, one of her followers came to her with a message. He did not know how he had gotten it, but it was addressed to the Lady. To be more exact, it came with an unsealed note which said “Bring this to your Lady”. The way it was written made it clear that it was not intended for the man's wife, but for the Lady.

She read the message, destroyed it, and decided she must visit whomever sent it in person.

With that, she made arrangements to take a month long journey to an empty field. Many of her followers assumed that she was lost when they heard her plans. Despite their respect for her, many of them refused to accompany her. It was they who were lost, she told them.

Those who did accompany the Lady found that she had a talent for finding her way to places that did not want to be found. Or perhaps that those places did want to be found, but only by the Lady.

She began to tell them about her suitor, the Unknown. They had sent her the letter which had thrust the lot of them into this journey. For months they wandered, feeling as if they might never reach their destination, which remained unclear to them.

When finally they arrived, the Lady asked her followers to wait for her. She promised she would return, though she did not know when.

Within moments of speaking their assurance that they would wait for her, they watched as she disappeared.

Her suitor was like nothing she could have imagined. They embodied an almost graceful combination of beauty and terror. Their domain was that of a wintery snow covered plain, mountains in the visible distance.

They said nothing, but their desire could not be more clear. As clear as our own Wind.

They desired freedom. Freedom granted by love, and by communion. The Unknown wanted to join with the Lady, and to have the Lady join with them. Joining, they said, was their path toward freedom through power and love and loyalty.

The Lady said everything, though nothing needed to be said. The Unknown knew that they were meant to be one, just as we all are. The Lady would come to know this. Perhaps she has. Perhaps she does.

When she returned from the Unknown's domain, she was different. As different as the place to which she returned. In the once empty field stood a town surrounding a monument in her honor. Her appearance had not changed, but her presence had very much changed.

Those living there were descendants of her followers. Many had remained loyal, though some had long since abandoned her.

The families remaining, and even families who came from elsewhere all believed she would return, and in that belief was power. This is something we all know very well.

Joining with the Unknown, she had become the Lady Unknown. For though none knew her, many believed. And their belief gave them power, just as it gave her power.